1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus having a touch panel, an image processing method for the image pickup apparatus, and a storage medium storing a program for implementing the image processing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, as user interfaces for performing operations on image pickup apparatuses (video equipment) such as digital video cameras, touch panels have been used which enable a user to perform an operation on an image pickup apparatus by touching a screen of a liquid crystal display or the like with a finger, a special pen, or the like (hereafter referred to as “a finger or the like”). A control means such as a microcomputer incorporated in an image pickup apparatus detects a position on a touch panel touched by a user with a finger or the like, identifies a switch (icon) displayed at the detected position, and performs a process or an operation associated with the identified switch (icon). Some touch panels of image pickup apparatuses have not only a switch-replacement function but also a drawing input (hereafter referred to as “hand-drawing input”) function of, when a linear drawing, characters, etc. are drawn on the touch panels with a finger or the like, superimposing the drawn linear drawing, characters, etc. on a taken image (taken picture).
Some image pickup apparatuses such as digital video cameras are equipped with a rotatable liquid crystal display having a touch panel and have a shooting mode which allows shooting in a state where a display screen of the liquid crystal display faces toward a taking lens (self shoot). FIGS. 7A to 7c are views showing the relationship among a camera main body 70, position of a liquid crystal display 71, and displayed taken image (displayed picture) in a conventional digital video camera capable of self shoot.
FIG. 7A shows a normal display state where a display screen of the liquid crystal display 71 faces toward a rear of the camera main body 70. Four corners of the liquid crystal display 71 in the state shown in FIG. 7A are designated by T-L, B-L, T-R, and B-R, respectively. FIG. 7B shows a reverse display state immediately after the display screen of the liquid crystal display 71 is turned to face toward a front (lens 73 side) of the camera main body 70. When the liquid crystal display 71 is rotated 180 degrees about an A-axis shown in FIG. 7A so that the display screen (touch panel 72) of the liquid crystal display 71 can face toward the front, the taken image is vertically flipped. Thus, in the reverse display state, the taken image is flipped vertically and displayed on the display screen as shown in FIG. 7C.
FIG. 8A shows a state where in the state in FIG. 7C, hand-drawing input is done on the touch panel 72 which the liquid crystal display 71 is equipped with. FIG. 8B shows an exemplary display when the liquid crystal display 71 is brought back to the normal display state after hand-drawing input in FIG. 8A. In FIG. 8B, the displayed image is flipped from the display state shown in FIG. 8A, but a linear drawing input by hand-drawing input is not flipped, and hence hand-drawing input is not shown as intended.
To prevent this problem, there has been proposed a method which prohibits hand-drawing input from a touch panel when a liquid crystal display is in the reverse display state. Also, there has been proposed a technique to, when a liquid crystal display is in the reverse display state, vary a flipping status of a taken image according to whether or not hand-drawing input from a touch panel is to be done (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 3505088).
However, as with the conventional art described above, when a liquid crystal display is in the reverse display state, if a flipping status of a taken image is varied depending on whether or not hand-drawing input from a touch panel is to be done, a problem arises because it makes framing during shooting difficult.